I'm blessed to live in an area that is a short distance from several roads with some great curves with open views. The cambers of the roads are mostly as they should be. When I'm ridding out on these roads it is in a more reserved manner while I scout road conditions. Coming back on the same road I'm normally able to turn up the wick a bit.

This is not road racing! While on public roads I very much believe in safety for both myself and others using our roads. Choosing a late apex is important to deal with unseen road conditions and / or oncoming traffic. I'm always respectful and friendly to others that share the road. Never placing others in a compromising situation and a friendly wave to all.

However, to me it's almost never about ridding in slow motion on long straight roads. I love the curves and enjoy doing them rather quickly without placing myself nor others in a bad position. Of course on roads I've not recently traveled the wick has to be turned down a bit. I've been blessed with over 40 years of "no accident" ridding and hope to have many more in the future.

Happy TrailsDave

Sounds very sensible. I rarely ride the same roads out and back, although I have thought about it. It does give you an advantage in reducing the chance of surprises.

Wow, heavy topic. As others have said, it's your decision, I can only share my experience and decisions. I'm 71, have been riding off and on since I was twenty. I'm a two time cancer survivor and just was able to return to some frequent riding this last summer. Taking everything into account, riding is different now then before. I had a lot of thoughts during treatment when not riding - should I sell the bike, I'm not using it. Very practical thinking. While trying to make the decision, I ran into a friend who has a number of hobbies (toys). His thoughts - you never sell your toys, that's giving up! It's not a profound observation but the more I thought about it, I had to wonder if I was giving up. Do I give in to the illness and age? Well, I kept the bike. In fact last year for my 70th birthday I got a newer one and had a few rides before winter set in. This last summer I was able to ride a lot more. Not as much as I used to but one month my gas bill for the bike was more than my bill for the car. And I found that the motorcycle still makes me smile and that is so important. One beautiful crisp fall day here in New England I called a close friend from the bike and said I was in rapture. The smile, the joy, the sensory overload that we all feel on the bike can not and should not be given up lightly. It's an important part of our life.

But I had to make compromises. I no longer ride two-up. My rides are much shorter now, two to three hours at most. I'm fortunate to live in a part of Massachusetts that is not as developed as the eastern part of the state.I can easily choose two lane roads with little traffic. I have not ridden to the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire for three years now. Maybe I won't ever do that again,. But I still take my short(er) rides and find the same joy as always on the bike. It's part of my life and I don't want to give it up. That being said, there may be a time when I have to make that decision. If I find that I think I may be a danger to others, I'll have to quit. But my shorter, careful, more frequent rides are keeping the two-wheeled joy in my heart,

I just had my 77th birthday a couple of days ago. I ride a 2015 RT and a K1600GT. It does cross my mind but it goes away quickly as soon as I get on those scooters.Not yet! My riding buddies are always giving me crap about wanting to go to fast,to far and to early. Not yet...GT

Wow, heavy topic. As others have said, it's your decision, I can only share my experience and decisions. I'm 71, have been riding off and on since I was twenty. I'm a two time cancer survivor and just was able to return to some frequent riding this last summer. Taking everything into account, riding is different now then before. I had a lot of thoughts during treatment when not riding - should I sell the bike, I'm not using it. Very practical thinking. While trying to make the decision, I ran into a friend who has a number of hobbies (toys). His thoughts - you never sell your toys, that's giving up! It's not a profound observation but the more I thought about it, I had to wonder if I was giving up. Do I give in to the illness and age? Well, I kept the bike. In fact last year for my 70th birthday I got a newer one and had a few rides before winter set in. This last summer I was able to ride a lot more. Not as much as I used to but one month my gas bill for the bike was more than my bill for the car. And I found that the motorcycle still makes me smile and that is so important. One beautiful crisp fall day here in New England I called a close friend from the bike and said I was in rapture. The smile, the joy, the sensory overload that we all feel on the bike can not and should not be given up lightly. It's an important part of our life.

But I had to make compromises. I no longer ride two-up. My rides are much shorter now, two to three hours at most. I'm fortunate to live in a part of Massachusetts that is not as developed as the eastern part of the state.I can easily choose two lane roads with little traffic. I have not ridden to the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire for three years now. Maybe I won't ever do that again,. But I still take my short(er) rides and find the same joy as always on the bike. It's part of my life and I don't want to give it up. That being said, there may be a time when I have to make that decision. If I find that I think I may be a danger to others, I'll have to quit. But my shorter, careful, more frequent rides are keeping the two-wheeled joy in my heart,

Hope this helps in some way.

Richard

Your comment about wondering if you were giving up struck a chord with me. I have not had your health issues to deal with. However, I took ten years off from riding, a combination of a forced absence for a job followed by several years of vacillation. Most of my life I have used a motorcycle as my only transportation. Where I live now, I don't need a vehicle and for several years I went without one because I suspected that I would rarely ride it. Finally, I decided that if I was still thinking about it, I should just do it. Not having a bike felt a little like I was giving up on life. So I bought an R1200R a couple of years ago. As expected I don't ride it very often. I don't use if for shopping or chores, just trips. It sometime sits for a month or two between trips. But when I do ride it I generally put 800 to 1000 km/day on it for a few days in a row. So, even with it sitting most of the time, I have put 25,000 km on it in the year and a half that I have had this one. My lifetime mileage on two wheels must be pushing a half a million miles incidentally. (200+50+100+15, actually I guess it is more like 400,000 miles or 600,000 km).

I am glad I got back into riding. I am 72 and accept that at some point I will have to quit riding. I don't see it happening any time soon. I guess I will cross that bridge when I come to it, to invoke an unoriginal refrain.

Had the same thoughts in May, Bob, after I smashed into a solid rock road cut and fractured six ribs and poked a hole in a lung. As soon as I got home I had a local dealer friend pick my KGT up on consignment, with the idea I was proabably done. Four months later not a nibble, so took it home. Rode it a few times. Felt nervous. Suzanne has also quit riding, so I decided to go "smaller" and traded for an RT, partly because I thought I'd never sell the K. Still very tentative on the bike after jillions of miles of WFO all the time. Still ambivalent. Am trying to learn to ride slower...and enjoy it. Not really working yet. I guess my suggestion is to keep the bike until this time next year and see how many miles you rode, how much fun it was. Not having the partner riding with us makes a helluva difference to you and me, I think.

I'm only 53 but I've gone through this myself more than once. Been riding street bikes since HS (didn't even have a car until I was 21) on 10 different bikes. I've never crashed which I shouldn't say out loud! My first attempt at quitting riding was after bike 5 which was my '99 1100R. I've never been an aggressive rider but that bike was pushing me that way. Additionally I was riding it less and less and it more or less sat for the last few years I had it so I decided to sell and quit. That lasted six months until I saw a Harley '01 Superglide. I'd never ridden a Harley figuring they were over priced yet primitive paperweights but I jumped in as I wanted to try it and figured a Harley didn't need to be ridden aggressively. I truly liked that bike and even though it's no BMW I regret to this day selling it. The reason I did sell is because as much as I enjoyed the Harley I missed BMW so I got a K1200RS because, like the Harley I'd never owned a K bike. That thing was the highest performance bike I've ever had and I was either going to die riding it or pay a ton of speeding fines plus I simply missed the my boxer so my first 03 R1200R came along. Kinda like the first one I rode it to death for a while then kinda slowed down until again I just wasn't riding it much. Then I see a few first hand crashes including one where I heard the guy later died plus on my work blog I hear about a few guys crashing and dying so I sell it and swear off riding yet again. Maybe 8 months go by this time and I wind up getting another R1200R. The only reason I have the R1200RT now is because I test rode it while the the R12R was in for service and wow. My point with all this is I think for me there simply has to be a bike in the garage or I just don't feel "right". Whether I ride it or not is irrelevant. I truly now hope to be like some of you guys and ride until I just can't.

And then there are guys like this who defy all common sense, but who clearly is the poster child for not tip toeing thru life only to arrive safely at Death's Door! Meet Bill, age 88y, who in the photo is just picking up his new K1600B after its 600m service. He took his prior K1600GT to the California Superbike School at the tender age of 87y!

It's a tough call but w/ my personal and family history I figure stroke is probably in my future anytime from now going forward! So as long as the balance and awareness remains strong I'm going to continue riding, despite my osteoporosis! While I'd like something lighter than RTW is, in fact I'm hoping and mention this everywhere I can in the hopes a brand finally wakes up to this untapped, unaddressed market, I know that brute strength has virtually nothing to do w/ riding RTW or other heavier machines--it's balance and awareness that matter most. I can appreciate Hopz comments about traffic and so as I don't have to commute anymore I avoid traffic dense areas like the plague, never ride in the highest risk times for deer strikes, and avoid going at track speeds thru the twisties!